Chinese fashion e-tailer Club Factory looks to increase Indian sellers

"We are looking to have about 50% of sellers on our platform to be Indian in the next few years. We are going to invest heavily in localising. In one year, we have gone from a team of 10 to 50 people, “ Lou said. Digbijay Mishra | TNN | April 26, 2019, 11:54 IST

NEW DELHI: As the regulatory noose tightens around Chinese e-commerce firms for alleged tax evasion coupled with protests by small traders, popular Chinese e-commerce platform Club Factory is looking to on-board more Indian sellers on its platform. The company founder & CEO Yon Lou said the company will use new capital for aggressive localisation here that will create new jobs and widen its offering with Indian sellers on its platform.

Lou added the company is '100% legal' with full compliance to Indian laws and stores data in local servers.

"We are looking to have about 50% of sellers on our platform to be Indian in the next few years. We are going to invest heavily in localising. In one year, we have gone from a team of 10 to 50 people, “ Lou said.

Chinese venture capital firm, Qiming Venture Partners is learnt to be leading a series D financing for the company. He declined to comment on his latest fund-raise.

Lou's India visit comes at a time when there is increased scrutiny over the nature of operations by Chinese e-tailers and cross-border commerce. At present, Club Factory's majority of sellers are from China. It largely caters to the unbranded products across fashion and accessories at low prices like other similar platforms Shein which makes it harder for smaller Indian sellers to compete. Pricing disparity is a major reason that's led Indian traders to protest Chinese sellers here.

TOI previously reported how some of the Chinese sellers are now trying to circumvent the current set of laws by undervaluing the goods being sold to Indian consumers on their invoices eventually to pay less taxes.

Lou said with more Indian sellers coming to its platform, the range of products it can offer on the platform will be wider. It's looking at segments like ethnic fashion and home-decor among others.

Owing to the recent political developments, Chinese companies or their products are being seen critically by some industry stakeholders. "Our gross sales grew by 100% last year with majority of sales coming from non-metro cities and we are looking to continue on the growth path," Lou added. Club Factory gets about 25% of its total sales from metro markets.

RELATED

TECI-Everything to know about this trade body formed by Snapdeal, Shopclues, and other e-commerce companies